Making the best of Rustoleum

[stamar]

I think I'm gonna do this for my plastic bumper swap. Rustoleum Pro Gloss Black likely matches OEM Schwarz.

I have seen zinnoberrot and now brillianrot pictures in rustoleum, and satin black. but i havent seen a diamondschwartz picture

so take pictures for us.

you see in general unless you are painting your car over completely youre sort of counting on a coincidence if a color of house paint is the same as your car.

Zinnoberrot, or royal or regal red is a very generic car color based on the english royal flag. every paint comes in that color. krylon paint does too. To make a long story short, that family owned a car company that became MG rover, and their cars came in only that color. So it is the english sports car color dating to the 30s or actually predating all cars.

none of the other bmw colors are like that that I know of. I believe whats called kelly green is the same thing, never saw a bmw in that color.
Even white and black. You see the guy who painted his e30 white did the whole car not just a fender...

but you know what, I have never seen that it doesnt work either.

[ForcedFirebird]

Metallics are the most difficult to match, ESPECIALLY in beige/gold.
The metallic flakes will stand differently and change the color, depending on how you mixed the paint, room temp, air pressure, etc. And then when you think you have a perfect match, you take it out in the sun and its different at different angles relative to the rest of the car.
Pearl is kinda difficult as well.

Pearl is the hardest to match, even individual panels when painting a car in full. I have seen him re-paint cars because there was a piece left out of the booth, and even loosely hang the bumper covers on etc while spraying pearl as he said just moving to another part of the booth can change the effect.

[evandael]

I think I'm gonna do this for my plastic bumper swap. Rustoleum Pro Gloss Black likely matches OEM Schwarz.

[MattAvino]

Metallics are the most difficult to match, ESPECIALLY in beige/gold.
The metallic flakes will stand differently and change the color, depending on how you mixed the paint, room temp, air pressure, etc. And then when you think you have a perfect match, you take it out in the sun and its different at different angles relative to the rest of the car.
Pearl is kinda difficult as well.

[underconstruction]

I believe it was 3M fine cutting compound, but the best thing I have ever used was these
3M 2087 Trizact Hookit Foam Discs, 3 Inch, P3000 Grade
right after the final wet sand I put one of these on an orbital and did the whole car and it was as smooth as glass, they are 3000 grit compound filled discs. Check them out because they can even bring an old paint job back to life. You will still have to compound with a a finer grit afterwards and then polish.

[ForcedFirebird]

my neighbor who works in a body shop says gold is the hardest color to match. That is a live answer.

and my eyes tell me paint work on silver cars I can recognize immediately

I am in the middle of sanding the paint off my hood and it has proven way more difficult than I thought.
I think painting is much easier than sanding. that is just me maybe.

Well my painter told me what I stated above. Can only go by what he says, but some of the jobs I have seen him do tells me he knows WTF he's doing. Candy, pearls, pinstripes IN the base coats, ghost flames/letters etc etc. He painted several of the Miami Dolphins' donk cars, even. He's not a collision repair lol.

[bmwstephen]

Problem is metal is porous and the stripper will end up being in the metal. Only way to remove it is to bake it, kind of hard to do on a car. Never will trust chemical strippers over sanding, DA makes quick work of the flat areas and an air block will get most tight spaces. Either way a good paint job requires lots of sanding.

I have seen my painter paint 1/4 and rear door of a late model silver G35, he used the same method mentioned above (as when spraying any metallic color) and his work is seamless. Having a color-matching system helps, as does the ability to re-create factory orange peel. Only after several years would the two paints start to fade differently.

And on the contrary, he tells me white and red are the two most difficult to match, and red is the most expensive basic color.

having adjacent panels you can blend entirely really helps with the matching. however, I think doing a spot repair/open blend is the most difficult on metallic. if your painter can make a spot or open blend seamless please give me his card!

[underconstruction]

my neighbor who works in a body shop says gold is the hardest color to match. That is a live answer.

and my eyes tell me paint work on silver cars I can recognize immediately

I am in the middle of sanding the paint off my hood and it has proven way more difficult than I thought.
I think painting is much easier than sanding. that is just me maybe. I wish 320 sandpaper took that off Im going back to the store for some 100

100 grit is way to coarse you are creating more work for yourself. Get a good palm sander or da and no lower then 180-220, filler primer then block sand it with 320. to prep for paint

[stamar]

for cut what did you use?

I have turtle wax polishing compound and it seems to take too much paint off.

What do you use when its dry?

[underconstruction]

Those ratios worked the best for me in the temps and conditions I was painting in, barley any orange peel and the paint flowed well. I read about a thousand pages on how other people were achieving good results and then experimented until I felt it was coming out the way I wanted. If I remember correctly it was 8fl oz to 1 gallon of paint. I used just under a gallon because I heard A little more hardener was better? The hardener can only be used when spraying but it dried real fast I was wet sanding the next day and cut and buffed a few days later.

[stamar]

my neighbor who works in a body shop says gold is the hardest color to match. That is a live answer.

and my eyes tell me paint work on silver cars I can recognize immediately

I am in the middle of sanding the paint off my hood and it has proven way more difficult than I thought.
I think painting is much easier than sanding. that is just me maybe. I wish 320 sandpaper took that off Im going back to the store for some 100

[ForcedFirebird]

to me, using paint stripper is much easier than sanding paint off.


auto paint is very durable and that sounds like a pain to me. I have a bad rotator cuff though so Im one armed in that project so maybe its just me.

ya silver and gold(or bronzit) are the hardest colors to match. Even the body shops will mess it up. Sorry to tell you that.

If you really want a match, you paint the whole thing over.

Problem is metal is porous and the stripper will end up being in the metal. Only way to remove it is to bake it, kind of hard to do on a car. Never will trust chemical strippers over sanding, DA makes quick work of the flat areas and an air block will get most tight spaces. Either way a good paint job requires lots of sanding.

I have seen my painter paint 1/4 and rear door of a late model silver G35, he used the same method mentioned above (as when spraying any metallic color) and his work is seamless. Having a color-matching system helps, as does the ability to re-create factory orange peel. Only after several years would the two paints start to fade differently.

And on the contrary, he tells me white and red are the two most difficult to match, and red is the most expensive basic color.

[stamar]

My first attempt I rolled and it came out pretty damn good, I used regular Rust 50/50 mix with mineral spirits with about 7 coats, wet sanding in between every other coat. The next year I wanted to fix the few areas I wasn't crazy about so I decided to spray the Rusto-marine with an HVLP gun mixed 70/30 Rusto to thinner with a oil based enamel hardener that speeds the drying time and increases the durability of the paint. This time there was much less sanding, I sprayed on 5 more coats, one more go thru the grits and a good cut and polish. Good enough for me for now.

i can tell that your experience with rustoleum was similar to mine in that:

putting it on evenly is simple. It looks great right away.

ALL of the work involved is in sanding off the wrinkles that come up because it dries so slow.

My next rustoleum project Ill follow your lead and look at things that harden paint faster.

[stamar]

to me, using paint stripper is much easier than sanding paint off.


auto paint is very durable and that sounds like a pain to me. I have a bad rotator cuff though so Im one armed in that project so maybe its just me.

ya silver and gold(or bronzit) are the hardest colors to match. Even the body shops will mess it up. Sorry to tell you that.

If you really want a match, you paint the whole thing over.

[ForcedFirebird]

Nando, I would say the biggest job with spray painting that is prepping it.

so using a stripper to take the clear and old paint off. thats where all the work is.

getting airplane or auto paint stripper.

I doubt rustoleum silver is a good match for bmw silver though, so youre gonna have to get shafted and spend as much as 60 or more for 3 cans of paint scratch paint.

At that point youre in bodyshop territory. If you stripped it off, I bet they would charge 150$ to do it for you.


no guarantees about what paint shop charges in your market but in general theyre the ones that are desperate at the moment.

Strip it to bare metal? A 320 grit sand would be sufficient once all the loose material is removed.

I guess I'd have to get a quote.

It shouldn't cost as much as Maaco-ing your entire car, even ate a reputable shop.

If there is a cheap brand of spray paint, that matches bmw delphin, ive never heard of it and youll be the one discovering it.

I wouldnt be hopeful

Not really. Seeing my car is Delphin, it's a very difficult color to match, plus it's a metallic and the main reason my car has 4 base coats. With metal flakes in the paint, the "sparkle" flash will be determined by the direction of the sprayer. Mine has 4 coats to cover all 4 spray directions (vertical, horizontal then 2 diagonals). Even the pricey PPG wasn't a 100% match, but it's hard to tell since under the hood still has a hint of Cosmoline "yellow" and all the jambs were all painted.

A local kid recently sprayed his car with a Harbor Freight gun and a single stage Delphin from Sherman-Williams. The two cars are a very different color. Mine being close to the factory color and his being much darker.